A Couple of Surprise Winners at the JGP Ljubljana

American Krasnozhon claims gold as Russian favorite fumbles; new Japanese junior star makes history; World Junior ice dance champions become first skaters to win two golds this year.

After two weeks in bigger markets, the Junior Grand Prix moved to Slovenia for its fifth event. This is the fifth time the series has come to Slovenia, and the second time it’s come to the capital of Ljubljana. The first time was in 2014. Once again we’ve also gone down to only three events.

Ilia Skirda of Russia, Alexei Krasnozhon of the United States and Kazuki Tomono of Japan pose during the Medal Ceremony of the Junior Men Free Skating  (Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)

Men

For the second time this season, America’s Alexei Krasnozhon came looking to challenge Russia’s Dmitri Aliev. After the short program, it looked like it would have the same outcome. Aliev had a six point lead thanks to a beautiful short; its first half was practically mesmerizing. Krasnozhon skated clean, but not without a couple of rough edges, and simply could not match Aliev artistically.

They were two of four men to successfully land the triple axel jump in that segment. The third, Japan’s Kazuki Tomono, also doubled a jump in his combination and was generally weaker in his program’s first half, leaving him fifth. The fourth was France’s Kevin Aymoz. Unfortunately his other two jumping passes were disastrous, leaving him seventh. Third instead went to Canadian Joseph Phan, and fourth to Russian Ilia Skirda. Both skated clean and lively shorts without the triple axel.

Unfortunately, things went very wrong for Aliev in the free. First he tripped and fell on the solo quadruple toe loop attempt. Then he nearly fell in the middle of his quad toe-double toe attempt. Then he fell on his solo axel attempt. After that he underrotated the salchow in his triple axel-loop triple salchow attempt, and it was his turn to double a combination jump. It was enough to cost him a medal completely when it dropped him to fourth.

Kazuki Tomono of Japan competes during the Junior Men Free Skating (Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)

Meanwhile, Krasnozhon started his program by rotating a quad loop, although he slipped on the landing and all but fell. He bounced back from that by landing two triple axels, one accompanied by a triple toe. Later in the program he doubled a lutz, but ultimately it was enough to win. It wasn’t a blowout win, however. He ended up less than three points behind Skirda, who came within three tenths of a point of winning the free skate. It’s almost disappointing he didn’t, when even without a triple axel, his flawless program and showman performance was pretty much the highlight of the night.

Phan was not so lucky. He did go for the triple axel in the free, underrotated and fell on it, and then also fell on the flip. He fell to fifth, which he had to hold onto against Aymoz, who had two similar falls in his own free, but also landed a clean and high triple axel in combination, and surpassed even Skirda in the beauty and sheer passion of his skating. The only other clean triple axel landed in the free was by Ukrainian Ivan Pavlov, and was followed immediately by a singled toe, just one of many mistakes that kept him down in seventh.

Bronze therefore went to Tomono. He nearly landed a clean quad salchow, though he swung around on the landing. His two triple axels were similar stories. Those weren’t his only errors.  But those jumps combined their value to give him the highest technical tariff of anybody, which helped him stay a point and a half ahead of Aliev.

Marin Honda and Rika Kihira of Japan and Alina Zagitova of Russia pose for a photo during the Junior Ladies medal ceremony  (Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)

Ladies

She may have failed to land the triple axel at her first event, but here Rika Kihira truly made history. She not only became the seventh woman to land it in international competition, she also became the first to land 8 triples in a free skate, and at least one of all six jump types. While she was at it, she skated two clean, good programs, complete with a triple lutz-triple toe in each. Initially after the short she was behind St. Gervais winner Alina Zagitova, who also skated clean with a triple lutz-triple toe, and held a slight edge in presentation. But Zagitova did not have so good a free. Going for the triple lutz-triple loop, she failed to even partially rotate the second jump, fell on a lutz which was likewise fully downgraded to a double, plus she underrotated her entire three-jump combination. Kihira won gold easily.

Neither Kihira or Zagitova had been the favorite to win; that had been the reigning Junior World Champion. But for Marina Honda this event was Yokohama redux. This time in the short she singled the second jump of her triple flip-triple toe attempt, and was left in fourth. Her free was fairly similar to Yokohama’s as well, complete with her singling the axel in her three jump, except this time she stumbled slightly out of her triple flip-triple toe. Rotating all her other jumps and still being the best artist out there helped her edge silver out by less than a point and a half. Right behind her was Zagitova.

Zagitova was fourth in the free skate, scoring lower than Korean JGP debutante Eunsoo Lim. Lim showed herself as one to watch in a free where she nearly landed everything, but unfortunately ran into the boards while doing her triple lutz-triple toe. She had nearly done so in her sixth place short, and then fallen on it anyway.  These two falls cost her the medal. All rotated jumps and some promising performing skills rose her to fourth, however, ahead of Russian Alisa Lozko. Lozko was third after a very well done creative short, but even there she underrotated both her triple flip-triple toe attempt and her triple loop. That just got worse in the free, where she had five underrotations, one full downgrade, one lutz so egregiously done off the wrong edge of her skate blade she got heavily penalized for that, and therefore one triple without any issues.

Sofia Polishchuk and Alexander Vakhnov of Russia, Lorraine Mcnamara and Quinn Carpenter of the United States and Anastasia Skoptcova and Kirill Aleshin of Russia pose for a photo during the Junior Ice Dance Free Dance medal ceremony (Photo by Joosep Martinson – ISU/ISU via Getty Images)

Ice Dance

Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter managed to become the first skaters to win two golds in any discipline on the JGP circuit this year, but they didn’t have the easiest time doing it. In the short dance, they struggled with getting high levels on their elements, getting hit with three level twos. Still they did everything more than well enough to take a near six point lead. They weren’t the only ones to struggle. The bronze medalists from St. Gervais, Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov, lost their curve lift when they fumbled while trying to get her balanced. They ended up in third, a point below 2015 JGP Finalists and Youth Olympic medalists Anastasia Skoptcova & Kirill Aleshin. They impressed more with a sharp and energetic short, but even they had issues staying in sync on their twizzles.

It was in the free where McNamara & Carpenter had real trouble. There she hit her toepick and went hopelessly awry in the twizzles. Then on top of that they got hit with two more level twos, leaving them seven points behind both Russian teams in their technical tariff. It was a gap superior performance couldn’t overcome; they ended up behind them in the segment. But it was by less than a point with Skoptcova & Aleshin, who were a bit slower than they’d been in the short, and even awkward in their final lift. Polishchuk & Vakhnov won the free dance by a little over two points with a dramatic program mostly free of these difficulties. This also won them the silver, and left their fellow Russians with the bronze.

You can view the full results here.

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Series Standings

Because of different skaters winning each event, it’s taken a while for anyone to mathematically lock themselves for the Grand Prix Finale. However, Dmitri Aliev’s failure to medal locks not only Alexei Krasnozhon, but also his own countryman Roman Savosin. On the other hand, he might himself now not make it, especially since he’s behind Ilia Skirda in the standings. Skirda is very likely to make it, though he is still not mathematically locked. You can view the men’s standings here.

Alina Zagitova’s fall to bronze likewise locks both Rika Kihira and her countrywoman Kaori Sakamoto. However, her medal puts her ahead of Marin Honda in the standings. Most years, they would both be very likely to make it. This one, Zagitova still is, and Honda’s chances aren’t bad, but the latter will have an anxious wait. You can view the ladies’ standings here.

Lorraine McNamara & Quinn Carpenter lock themselves with their two golds. No more than six dance winners on the circuit also locks French team Angelique Abachkina & Louis Thauron. Sofia Polishchuk & Alexander Vakhnov are currently fourth in the standings. Silver and bronze has gotten many an ice dance team to the JGP Finale. In a year with four teams holding gold so far, it’s less likely to, but it may still happen. You can view the dance standings here.